MSNBC invited Rep. Kucinich to appear in the January 15 Democratic debate, then retracted the invitation. Kucinich took the matter to court and got a ruling in his favor from a Nevada judge. MSNBC appealed to the Nevada Supreme court, who reversed the lower court's decision, characterizing the situation as "a private matter" and ruling that MSNBC could do as it pleased.

...Does Kucinich's campaign represent ideas that offend either NBC managers or their bosses at General Electric? It's a fair question, given that MSNBC canceled Phil Donahue's nightly show in early 2003 due to the host's opposition to the Iraq War; the company worried that the host would be a "difficult public face for NBC in a time of war" (FAIR Press Release, 4/3/03).

Kucinich's peace platform might be something that a major defense contractor like General Electric would rather not expose to voters on its cable network. Likewise, Kucinich's strong opposition to nuclear power likely doesn't sit well with GE, a major player in the industry; the issue was sure to come up in any debate in Nevada, where the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump is intensely controversial....

And FAIR notes how NBC gets around the "equal time" rule:

Quote:

But NBC successfully appealed its case to the state Supreme Court, saying that the revised standards were "in no way designed to exclude any particular candidate based on his or her views," and were a "good faith editorial choice of a privately owned cable network to limit debate participants based on the status of their campaigns." (Given that the legal argument involved FCC equal time rules, the network aired the debate only on its MSNBC cable channel, and not on its NBC affiliates in Nevada--thus limiting the actual audience for the debate).

Breaking the Sound Barrier: Democracy Now! Re-Hosts NBC Las Vegas Debate to Include Kucinich After NBC Wins Appeal to Exclude HimOhio Congressman Dennis Kucinich was missing from the stage at last night’s Democratic debate hosted by MSNBC in Las Vegas after he lost a last-minute legal fight with the network over his participation. Last week, NBC told Kucinich that he had met the criteria for the debate. Then, less than two days later, the network changed the criteria and declared that Kucinich was no longer qualified. On Monday, a Nevada judge ordered NBC to include Kucinich, but then NBC appealed the ruling and actively fought to keep him off the stage. On Tuesday night, less than an hour before the debate, the Nevada Supreme Court sided with NBC. Democracy Now! decided to break the sound barrier and give Kucinich a chance to take part. In an exclusive broadcast, we re-broadcast excerpts of the debate and give the Ohio Congressman a chance to answer the questions he might have faced if he hadn’t been silenced.

This is politics in the shitty. Rural common sense would have eliminated most other contenders, but that isn't what we run on anymore. No more rail splitters with a lick of sense, just party favors to blow, rattle and shout about. Politics and especially democracy is in need of a transfusion of common sense. Perhaps even the lifeblood itself needs reoxygenating and crutches replaced to re-energize its fat officious carcas.

Of all our unique contenders at least Kucinich tried to speak truth to power, but of course when money is the only truth power understands, so Dennis has found the ditch. Couldn't keep it between the bottom lines as the car had been rigged to crash before it even hit the road.

The greatest highway in the states seems to be littered with those who have good intentions, but after crashing seem to be short of funds to get the towtruck and keep the journey going. Where's all the people to help push the car back out on the highway? Right, America loves losers but leaves them quickly in their dust in search of the next top loser to ignore on the trail of Ignorance. And with this formula for success they return their gaze to the horizon and forget the facts of today as they race to their tomorrows.

Rather than pick someone who could help, lets pick someone unique- like a rich person in the pocket of some other rich person. Or perhaps we can eliminate our stigma of fat white bastards at our trough and feed them a black or even a woman. Hell, maybe we could have a woman pres and a black VP and get rid of those stigmas in one fell swoop. Or Vice versa- depending on who we feel is more deserving of being #1- a white woman or a black man. They've always been contesting for positon in America so why not set them against each other and see what happens.

Just a barrel of monkeys every election lately, isn't it? It's a barrel of fun!

PS- that weasel Olberman showed where his interests truly lie as well. What? No Comment? No worse worser worstest? Maybe he should consider himself in that worstest list.

Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it.- Andre Gide

_________________Completely sane world
madness the only freedom

An ability to see both sides of a question
one of the marks of a mature mind

[url=http://www.truthdig.com/interview/item/20080106_a_conversation_with_dennis_kucinich/] A Conversation With Dennis Kucinich[/url]

Chris Hedges interviews Dennis Kucinich:

This interview, originally published by The Philadelphia Inquirer, was conducted Dec. 19 in the Washington office of the Ohio Democrat.

The office is spare, with two sagging leather chairs, a brown leather couch and a desk. There are framed pictures of Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the wall over the couch, all with accompanying quotes. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is on his poster-sized portrait. Kucinich keeps a white cloth from the Dalai Lama in his office. He has a bust of Gandhi and a picture representing “conscious light”—a gift from Brahma Kumaris nuns, as well as a Tibetan dragon washbowl. On his desk are two heavy crucifixes once worn by Catholic nuns who taught him; he says the nuns “saved my life.” Outside his office door in the small reception area are framed letters of support from George McGovern, Robert F. Kennedy and Hubert H. Humphrey.

Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich is accompanied by his wife, Elizabeth, as he stops by Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., the location of Republican and Democratic debates Saturday. Kucinich was not invited to participate in the debates.

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"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

_________________"If the people allow private banks to control their currency the banks and corporations will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." - Thomas Jefferson